politics and your OH

Haha, brave. *sits and hopes SW comes by*

I don't think I have any and neither does my H. I asked him the other day if he plans to vote and he said yes, when I asked for whom, he wasn't sure. I have only voted once. And yes, I know women fought and died for my right to vote so I should use it. I just never feel moved to vote by any of the current policies/leaders.

I'm not just asking for political party affiliations but your 'world view'.

H and I have heated debates, but not proper arguments about it.

Yeah, we have heated debates but they are usually about sexism, homophobia, sizeism or transphobia and how stuff like that affects pop culture. I love discussing things like the role of women in tv and film, and our most recent debate was inspired by a pic going round Facebook that was the lineup poster for Reading/Leeds with only the bands that include a woman left in. (I think it left about eight bands.)

Ooh, ID, they sound like topics to get your teeth into.

Tbh politics wise the only thing we'd said is we need to try and remember to vote this time just to keep ukip out.

I really hate talking politics, I hate when people get their backs up and start raising their voices and mouthing off about how our country should be run, as if they have the answers. I hate the role the media has in shaping our opinions. I hate the finger pointing done by people who can't see the whole picture. I hate the glaringly enforced class system politics makes us all slot ourselves in to. I just hate it all.

I definitely vote.

I know the question was about politics and my OH ... we just don't go there.

I don't really have any political views, I don't know enough about it, which is quite bad at my age! think OH is the same. We don't talk about it tbh.

I don't think it's possible to not have political views, is it? How do you feel about the NHS? How do you feel about the benefits system? Should we be letting immigrants in to the country? What kind of help should OAP's receive from the country? Your kids syllabus at school? Terrorism? It's all politics.

I think you've hit the nail on the head SW. A lot of people confuse politics with party politics, that's why I clarified by asking what is your world view.

I used to be very party political but have not been so for many years. I am however very political in that I'm interested in world (and local) issues. My politics very much define who I am. Always have done always will do.

Fair point. I hate how the country is run but not sure who / what will make it any better at this point.

H and I pretty much agree on politics which, given our differing views on religion, is probably a good thing!!

I am going to put my grumpy grown up head on though. Get out there and vote!! If you don't know who to vote for, do some research and find out!

you have no right to complain about the NHS, the education system, immigration, recycling or pretty much anything that affects your life unless you can also say, this isn't what I used my vote for.

ok grumps over ?

This ... except you don't even have to research. A lot of people talked about how our Politics was becoming Americanised when the party leaders did the live televised debates last time, but i think it was a great thing, it bought politics in an accessible way in to our living rooms - it gave us the opportunity to get to know the leaders, see what they thought was important and generally 'warm' to them. For the first time I opened up my mind to not voting for my usual party (I was bought up around politics, I was out shoving leaflets through letter boxes when I was little!) and went with the leader who had me nodding the most. The one I felt I could trust (more than the others, you clearly never trust a politician!)

We don't really talk about politics. I vote for my own reasons and don't discuss those with anyone, really. The only thing we have argued about is that for a long time he voted for the same party his parents do, without knowing why. He had no idea what he was voting for or whether the party he voted for agreed with his opinions in any way. That made me so frustrated, I would much prefer it if he didn't vote - which I don't think he will, this time round.

I'm probably a little more vocal about my political affiliations but i don't think OH minds. We tend to agree so that helps. Or I make him agree with me! ?

I always vote but I have to say that I don't feel like I really know enough about politics to make a fully educated vote.

Each time I feel like I'm voting for the lesser evil (which I probably am) and tend to just listen to the bits here and there I that people I know say about the different parties. I would like to know more about what each party is proposing, and it is entirely my fault for not knowing, but I also feel like they'll say whatever they feel like saying to ger my vote and then backtrack once in power anyway.

Totally agree with you Pugsley. I don't know who to vote for anymore. I know who I won't vote for but, as you say, with the other parties it is the lesser ofthe evils. I was a Lib Dem voter prior to the last election but not sure that option is a feasible one now. Totally confused!

I still vote but I'm very cynical with it. In terms of party politics, I get annoyed that it's all vote catching to stay in power rather than genuinely trying sort the issues out

My OH is very conservative on some issues, we've had some very heated debates on things like the death penalty. He's more eye for an eye & Whereas I think no one has the right to decide who lives & decides. He calls me a bleeding heart liberal because I believe in the welfare system. He thinks the rich shouldn't be taxed more than anyone else, I don't

You can do tests that help work out your political ideology - it's quite interesting & there are some very morally grey questions that you have to answer.

https://www.politicalcompass.org/test

Interesting chucklevision. I came out pretty close to Gandhi!

Not very accurate as I have to admit to not understanding some of the questions fully ... also felt there were some trick questions in there, and a lot of the questions were very leading!

Well...that's helpful

Oh - interesting MY!

Funnily enough, it's what I expected!

I always thought I was more left than that - obviously getting more reactionary in my old age! Must work on that?

I'm pretty similar to everyone else here really:

SW, it looks like most of us have similar views to you, maybe you should have married one of us? ?

What SW said on page one!

My dad is Iranian. When I was 19 he asked me who I was going to vote for later that day and I said I couldn't be bothered. He RAGED at me for about an hour about what an ungrateful spoilt western child I was, educated me on the state of affairs in Iran (no vote for my female relatives!) and then made me sit on google til I understood politics. And now, a decade later, I'm the same as him. I absolutely DESPISE political apathy!

Me and my OH are equally passionate, and have pretty solid near identical views, which is good and easy. My ex and I were total political opposites and even though we were really compatible in many ways, it drove a HUGE wedge between us! I like that w2b and I have similar core ideas/values.

I've redone my political compass test & compared it to uk parties. I don't much about the greens or SDLP so I'm off to read about them.

Oh dear God, I'm a green!!!

(Seriously, how did that happen? I rarely discuss politics, but when I do, it usually has something to do with ridiculing the greens!)

I agree with you SW, I just hadn't thought of it that way. I don't understand much of Party Politics (probably why I never knew I was Green) and I understand it even less here where there are far more 'major' parties and a different electoral system. But that said, I do consider myself socially minded and so around election time I always try to educate myself so that I can make my vote the best vote. The rest of the time I steer clear though.

In answer to the OP, H and I are not far off each other in our opinions, it's just that he's way more passionate about it than me so on the political quiz thing he would have a lot of'Strongly' agrees and disagrees where I am far more passive.

We are quite different. He is a bit of a communist and rarely votes. I always vote but l am a floating voter. Like a lot of people at the moment then none of the main political parties are particularly appealing to me

Can't figure out how to post a pic on my phone but I'm slightly southwest of the Greens.

For those who feel they don't know who to vote for, Vote For Policies is a good website to find out which party's policies you agree with.

https://voteforpolicies.org.uk/

I decided to get my OH to do the questionnaire to see where he came out on the grid. Interestingly he came out just one grid box above me.

I can remember having a discussion with someone who was saying that OH and I are very different. I agreed we are in lots of ways, but I said at the time what was important was shared values and this has just proved we definitely have that.

What makes it extra interesting for me is that people would generally consider me very political and my OH not so. I guess I'm just more vocal?